Tarō

Taro is the archetypal Japanese name for an eldest son, written with characters meaning big or thick and son. It appears across Japanese folklore in names like Momotaro, the Peach Boy, and Urashima Taro, the fisherman who visits an undersea palace. In modern Japan the simple Taro has softened from ubiquity into something closer to beloved classic, carried by politicians and baseball players and used colloquially the way English speakers might say John Doe. Two long syllables flow with easy weight, the final o held open. Folkloric, familiar, and quietly commanding. A name like a well-worn wooden door. Warmly traditional.